Darren Aronofsky Circling to Direct New ‘Cujo’ Movie

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Darren Aronofsky is going to the dogs. Or maybe just one particular dog.

The acclaimed filmmaker, whose resume ranges from Requiem for a Dream to Black Swan to The Whale, is in talks to direct Netflix’s adaptation of Stephen King novel Cujo.

The feature project was only revealed last week but it’s clearly further along than known or moving on the fast track.

Roy Lee, who established his King bonafides with the two It movies, Salem’s Lot, and the upcoming dystopian thriller The Long Walk, is producing. There is no writer yet on the project but Aronofsky is expected to being with candidates soon.

The 1981 novel of the same name told of a lovable St. Bernard named Cujo who, after being bitten by a bat, becomes a mouth-foaming killer. The central focus of a mother and her seizure-prone son trapped in a busted-down car outside a service garage became the central focus of the 1983 adaptation that was directed by Lewis Teague.

Both the novel and the movie became part of an enduring pop culture lexicon in which any raving dog can be referred to a Cujo.

While considered by many to be a filmmaker of art-house films, fare that earned his films Oscar nominations and wins among other accolades, Aronofsky has demonstrated a streak of interest in horror, particularly psychological horror. 2010’s Black Swan, which starred Natalie Portman and notched five Academy Award nominations, and Mother!, which starred Jennifer Lawrence, are forays into genre fare of the high-minded kind. (He also once developed an adaptation of Batman: Year One in the early 2000s that never came to pass.)

Aronofsky is post on Caught Stealing, a crime drama starring Austin Butler and Zoe Kravitz that Sony will release Aug. 29. He last directed the 2022 drama Whale, for which Brendan Fraser won an Oscar for best actor.

Aronofsky is repped by CAA and Goodman Genow.

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2025-03-18 19:39